Tumours more common in rural mobile users

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Using a mobile phone in rural areas increases the risk of a
brain tumour, according to new Swedish research published in
Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

The study, carried out by Lennart Hardell at the University
Hospital in Orebro, surveyed more than 1400 adults aged 20 to 80 in
Sweden who had been diagnosed with a brain tumour, whether
malignant or benign.

Their data was compared with data from healthy people from the
same area, with the researchers asking about frequency and length
of use of mobile and cordless phones.

The results were surprising. The period people spent on the
phone had little effect on the likelihood of contracting a brain
tumour.

But there was a noticeable effect when where people lived was
taken into account. The effect was more pronounced for digital
mobile phones.

Those living in the countryside and using a mobile digital phone
for more than three years were more than three times as likely to
suffer a brain tumour as those living in urban areas.

"Clearly our results support the notion that exposure may differ
between geographical areas. However, these results refer to Sweden
and there is no information on the exact difference between
different geographical areas," Mr Hardell wrote.

The team said that for malignant brain tumours - as opposed to
benign - the risk in rural areas was eight times that in urban
areas.

But they cautioned that the numbers on which the research was
based was small.

Previous studies have noted differences in power output between
urban and rural areas, as base stations are further apart.